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Dessert

Ice Cream

A frozen dessert made from milk, cream, gelatin, sugar, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Ice Cream

Why it works: Cream and gelatin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,628 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Dissolve the gelatin in a small amount of warm water.

  2. Combine the milk and cream in a large bowl.

  3. Sweeten the mixture to taste and add your desired flavoring.

Freeze

  1. Chill the mixture and begin to freeze it.

  2. Once it starts to freeze, fold in the beaten egg whites.

  3. Continue freezing until firm.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cream + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Milk
Provides the liquid and milk solids that form the body of the ice cream.
Cream
Adds fat, which makes the ice cream rich and smooth.
Gelatin
Stabilizes the mixture so it holds a smooth, firm texture.
Egg whites
Beaten whites trap air, giving the frozen dessert a lighter texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and softens the frozen texture.

The step that matters

Fold in the beaten egg whites once the mixture starts to freeze. Fold gently so the air beaten into the egg whites is kept; vigorous stirring deflates the foam and makes the ice cream denser. Adding them once the base has begun to freeze helps keep them from sinking and collapsing into the liquid.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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